1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a file management system, a file management apparatus, and a place map generating method. Particularly, the present invention relates to a file management system in which a user can visually manage files.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the popularization of information equipment such as PCs (Personal Computers), digital cameras, or mobile telephones, documents or images are generally being digitized so that they can be handled in the information equipment (hereinafter, a digitized document or image is referred to as a “file”). A file such as a digitized document or image is managed by information equipment. A user can retrieve and operate a desired file by operating the information equipment.
For example, in Windows (registered trademark) used as an OS (Operating System) of PCs and the like, files are managed by using a tree structure that is defined by a hierarchical relationship between folders. Therefore, a desired file can be retrieved generally by tracing the tree structure in a top-down or bottom-up manner.
Furthermore, intuitive file management has been conventionally performed by visualizing files or folders for classifying the files and arranging them as thumbnail images or icons. For example, there has been known a user interface display that arranges icons of a plurality of folders belonging to an upper hierarchy on the upper portion of a screen in a horizontal direction, arranges thumbnail images of a plurality of files belonging to a lower hierarchy of one folder, among the folders displayed on the upper portion of the screen, in the middle and lower portions of the screen, and displays a specific thumbnail image among the thumbnail images to be larger than the other thumbnail images. In this way, a user can easily understand ideality between an operation and a scrolling process for thumbnail images. The user interface display has been known as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-268295.
The user interface display develops file management in a direction of depth because a file management unit is a folder in a tree structure. Therefore, there is a problem in that the more a folder is located deeper in the hierarchy, the more complicated an operation for arriving at the folder becomes. Moreover, a folder corresponding to a specific node and a folder corresponding to another node, in which the nodes constitute a tree structure, are located at different positions (hierarchies). Therefore, it is difficult to intuitively grasp the relationship between both folders.
In this regard, this applicant has provided file management apparatus that displays a plurality of place images acting as a file management unit on a displaying means in a matrix configuration, determines whether one place image is selected from the displayed place images, and displays a thumbnail image of a file registered in association with the one place image on the displaying means. Therefore, a user can intuitively grasp the relationship between file management units and can effectively perform file management. The file management apparatus has been known as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-124060.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file management screen displayed on a display of a client computer connected to the file management apparatus via a network, on which files managed by the file management apparatus are displayed. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the display displays areas (places) P, in which files are registered, in the shape of a matrix and displays layer name areas L1, of which each indicates a layer for managing places located in the same row, next to the areas P in a longitudinal direction (place map screen). In this case, in the place map screen, the matrix of the places consisting of layers having a multiple-stage configuration is referred to as “a place matrix”.
The title of the middle-stage layer name area L1 is set to “favorite”. The titles of the other layer name areas L1 are not set and are displayed as “not set”. The attribute of place and the name of place, which are indices for characterizing each place input by a user, are registered in the area P located in the central part of the middle-stage layer. In this case, the name of place is registered as “My Place”. Moreover, the other areas P do not have the attribute of place and the name of place and display thereon “New Place!”. The files managed by the file management apparatuses can be registered in association with only the area P in which the attribute of place and the name of place are registered. That is to say, in the example illustrated in FIG. 14, files can be registered in association with only the area P of the place name “My Place” among the areas P that are arranged in the shape of a matrix.
The client computer should register the attribute of place and the name of place in an area P. In other words, the client computer should create a new place in order to register a file to be managed by the file management apparatus in association with the area P. In the creation of the new place, when the new place is created in an area P that is located in the end of the place matrix (3*3 matrix) on the place map screen, the file management apparatus reconfigures the place matrix and adds an unregistered place row (layer) or an unregistered place column to the outer part of the place matrix to expand the place matrix.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a place matrix reconfigured when the attribute of place and the name of place are registered in the area P belonging to the most significant row of the place matrix before reconfiguration. As illustrated in FIG. 15, when the attribute of place and the name of place (Family) are registered in the area P located in the central portion of the most significant layer in the place matrix illustrated in FIG. 14, the place matrix is reconfigured so that one unregistered place row (layer) is newly added to the outer part of matrix.
FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a place matrix reconfigured when the attribute of place and the name of place are registered in the area P belonging to the rightmost column of the place matrix before reconfiguration. As illustrated in FIG. 16, when the attribute of place and the name of place (CPS-PT) are registered in the area P located in the central portion of the rightmost end in the place matrix illustrated in FIG. 14, the place matrix is reconfigured so that one unregistered place column is newly added to the outer part of matrix.
FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a place matrix reconfigured when the attribute of place and the name of place are registered in the area P belonging to the least significant row and the rightmost column of the place matrix before reconfiguration. As illustrated in FIG. 17, when the attribute of place and the name of place (CPS-PT) are registered in the area P located in the rightmost column of the least significant row in the place matrix illustrated in FIG. 14, the place matrix is reconfigured so that an unregistered place row (layer) and place column are newly added to the outer part of matrix.
To create a new place in a desired area P on a place matrix, the client computer executes dedicated software that can handle position information for the area.
Conversely, because position information of each area on the place map screen cannot be handled in a client computer, MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), a digital camera, or the like (hereinafter, “client computer or the like”) that does not have dedicated software installed therein, position information for displaying a place map on the created new place cannot be set. Therefore, a newly created place is automatically arranged in a middle-stage layer on the place map screen. That is to say, when the client computer or the like that does not have the dedicated software installed therein creates a new place, the attribute of new place and the name of the new place are automatically registered in an area P located in the middle-stage layer. At this time, when the area P is located in the rightmost column in the place matrix, an unregistered place column is newly added to the outer part as illustrated in FIG. 16.
The client computer that does not have the dedicated software installed therein does not have a problem when the number of new places created by the client computer is few. However, when many new places are created, there is a problem that place columns are added to the outer part in accordance with the number of new places on the place map screen and thus file management is complicated because all the new places are arranged in the middle-stage layer in a transverse direction.